Fracking foes shift focus toward local limits

Updated 9:10 pm, Friday, October 18, 2013

Protesters against oil companies fracking for oil in California campaign across from the state building in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2013.

Protesters against oil companies fracking for oil in California campaign across from the state building in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2013.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Oil wells in the Midway-Sunset oil field in Fellows, Calif., Jan. 22, 2013. Monterey Shale, largely untouched territory near Midway-Sunset, could represent the future of California's oil industry - and a potential arena for conflict between drillers and the state's powerful environmental interests. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times) less

Oil wells in the Midway-Sunset oil field in Fellows, Calif., Jan. 22, 2013. Monterey Shale, largely untouched territory near Midway-Sunset, could represent the future of California's oil industry - and a ... more

Santa Cruz County last month slapped a moratorium on the controversial oil and gas production technique. Two members of the Los Angeles City Council have introduced a proposal to do the same. And they hope surrounding cities, some of which sit atop the oil fields of the Los Angeles Basin, follow suit.

"There are probably just two or three pieces of legislation I've ever introduced where random people thank me for it everywhere I go," said Councilman Paul Koretz. "I think if we were to pass this measure, we'd be hearing from cities across the country."

Foes of hydraulic fracturing have been pushing state lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown to impose a statewide moratorium on the practice, which uses a high-pressure blend of water, sand and chemicals to crack underground rocks containing oil or natural gas.

But bills to block fracking outright died in Sacramento this summer. Instead, Brown threw his weight behind legislation to regulate fracking, signing the bill into law last month. And while the governor has said little in public about the practice, the state's top oil and gas regulator recently told a conference in Santa Clara that Brown supports hydraulic fracturing.

Opponents haven't given up hope for a statewide moratorium or ban. On Saturday, a coalition of environmental groups will repeat their call for a ban at a rally in Oakland, part of a series of coordinated antifracking events around the world called the "Global Frackdown."

But they see efforts at the city or county level as the next logical step. They consider fracking a threat to drinking water supplies and air quality.

"The burden of protecting people's livelihoods has fallen on local communities," said Adam Scow, California director for Food & Water Watch, one of the groups participating in the Frackdown. "While it's disappointing that Gov. Brown is celebrating fracking, it makes sense that citizens are stepping up to protect their communities."

For the oil industry, dealing with moratorium proposals at a local level complicates a high-stakes fight.

Oil companies have turned to fracking and other well-stimulation techniques to unlock the Monterey Shale, an immense oil-bearing rock formation sprawling beneath the southern San Joaquin Valley and adjacent coastal hills. By federal estimates, the Monterey Shale could hold 15.4 billion barrels of petroleum, more than any other "tight oil" shale formation in the United States.

Production in the Monterey Shale has not yet taken off, the way it has in shale-rich states such as North Dakota or Texas. If it does, the result could be a financial bonanza.

"We've done (fracking) without incident for decades, and the mystery to us is why local governments would want to ban something that's been proven safe," said Rock Zierman, chief executive officer of the California Independent Petroleum Association. "On the one hand, it's more difficult to go around and have this discussion over and over. On the other hand, we know how to do it."

The California counties where most fracking occurs haven't banned it. A supervisor from Kern County, the heart of the state's oil industry, last month wrote a letter to Marin County supervisors, objecting to a resolution they had passed calling for a statewide fracking moratorium.

"I would strongly suggest that you familiarize yourself with the science behind the misinformed claims made by those who wrote your measure, and that you remove your opposition to hydraulic fracturing so that Californians from both our counties can enjoy the economic and environmental benefits that homegrown energy brings," wrote Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner.

Unlike Kern, Santa Cruz County doesn't have active oil wells or fracking. Officials there imposed a moratorium as a preventative measure, said county Supervisor John Leopold. In particular, they fear that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing could escape from a fracked well and contaminate groundwater. California regulators say they have no records of that happening in the state.

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"We're a county that is self-sustaining in water, and for most of the county, that comes out of the ground," Leopold said. "Virtually all our aquifers are in overdraft right now, and if a single well poisons an aquifer, we're in big trouble."

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